An announcement by the State Liberal Government that they will contribute $400,000 to the Greek Festival of Sydney shows how important the cultural event is to NSW says event Chair, Nia Karteris.
Over 100,000 people gathered in Darling Harbour Sydney over two days to see the best of Greek culture, with superstar singer Eleonora Zouganeli, on her first visit to Australia the highlight.
But it was the huge announcement by the Liberal party and Australian Multiculturalism Minister Ray Williams that they will be funding the festival to the tune of $400,00 for the next four years that was also a high point.
Greek Festival of Sydney Chair, Nia Karteris lauded the government for their investment which she said provides not only a massive boost to the cultural event but also to the wider community.
“That is something that they (NSW Government) now have accepted and realised,” she told Neos Kosmos.
“That it’s a financial economical increase for them in tourism and for instilling Greek Culture and arts into mainstream NSW. The Greek Orthodox Community of NSW is 121 years old. It’s older than establishment of Federation and throughout the years it’s played major roles in the forefront of political stories and issues that have to do with migration and multiculturalism.
READ MORE: See amazing photos from the 37th Greek Festival of Sydney
“We continue to instil into the government of our culture and the importance of the Greek community as a whole within NSW.”
With funding assured over the next four years Karteris is aiming to use that money to give international and local Greek artists an opportunity to showcase their talents on a bigger scale.
“Definitely,” she said. “Knowing well ahead that you’ll be able to incorporate that grant of 100,000 per year for the next four years allows the festival to grow and be able to initiate new projects.
READ MORE: Why is the Australian government giving the Greek Festival of Sydney extra funds?
“What we would like to see is the national theatre of Greece tour again in Australia that plays a major role. It also allows us to be able to give local artists a bit more opportunities’ to be able to produce bigger projects.
“The Greek Festival of Sydney needs half a million dollars to run per year and this significant funding will go a long, long way to make sure that we can promoting the best that we can for the Greek community and the wider community for Greek cultures and arts.”
Now in its 37th year the Greek Festival is one of Australia’s largest and longest running annual cultural events and Karteris believes it’s success is down to the hard work behind the scenes.
“Having over 100,000 people attend the event is a credit to everybody involved,” she said.
“Yes I am the chair but there is this huge team behind me. We have thousands of volunteers stall holders, board of directors and various communities. We get a lot of funding from sponsorship they are very important and local government plays a major role. Everybody at property NSW was also an enormous support over the two days.
“As a Greek community we showed that we are there to have a good time and that’s what we did without incident over the two days.”
CLICK HERE to read the full festival programme of the 37th Greek Festival of Sydney.
